Rainy Days
by Pandora's Pet
Summary: What if Itachi and Sasuke met Naruto early? Meh. Up to you. NO SAKURAX NARUTO OR SASUKE. I dunno where this story will go. Ides appreciated. T, or M later. Ideas are very appreciated. And the pairings are up for grabs. Naruto and Sasuke are set in stone (non-sexual). Although, Itachi and others are up. I'm thinking of ItachiXMitarashi.
1. Chapter 1

Heeyyyy! I don't exactly post stories all that often, but I'm going to post more often now! Yay! Yeah. Anyways, I have a little box at home next to my bed full of folded in half, unfinished stories in ink. So now they're coming straight to you!

Disclaimer: Why the heck do we need a disclaimer anyways? Well, I'm only doing this once. THis applies to all of my stories. I don't own Naruto, although I wish I did, and I'm definitely not making money off of this. If I did I would have a webcam by now.

ALSO: I'm going to be writing in paragraph form. I'm fricken tired of all these one thousand and one sentances going down the page. I don't care if it's 'harder to read'. It's how you write in English. Deal with it or don't read.

~Rainy Days~

"Oh.. Mkay." Came the soft response. The soft response that Itachi always got when Sasuke was thinking about something he just said, or taught him. Itachi enjoyed that particular feeling, out of the little he had, where he made an irrevocable impact on little Sasuke's knowledge base. Oh how he loved that feeling.

Just as he was thinking so, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, on his sword arm. He winced and rolled his eyes. "Growing pains." He muttered. Because yes, in fact, he was the only high-level shinobi with growing pains. He didn't really care as long as they didn't interfere with missions, but they sure were annoying.

He turned his eyes upwards, noting that they were probably already late to dinner, and that they were going to get it when they got home._ "Home." _He thought to himself bemusedly_. "Home is like a prison." _He thought darkly, his lips curling back on the right in a disgusted sneer, thankfully out of Sasuke's view. With his eyes turned upwards, and deep in thought, he didn't feel Sasuke shift to the right, his head coming over Itachi's right shouler and peering into a side-street.

Sasuke turned his head upwards also, however a bit less deep in thought. "The Uchiha helped found this village...? I'm so lucky!" He let a smile light his face and then drop as a side-street, painted orange with the setting sun showed a blond kid, about his age, running away from a large man in an apron holding . . . a wooden board?

Sasuke's mouth turned to a frown, wriggling off of his brother's arms and dropping onto the street, dashing down the side-street, without second thought. Was it the same as saving a comrade? What ever. It didn't matter. The sudden sense of urgency felt couldn't be ignored. Itachi took off after Sasuke, although trailing behind him. If it suited his fancy, Itachi could easily have swept him back up, although if he was doing what Itachi thought . . .

The blond kid tripped and fell onto the side walk, the man raising the board over his head with a growl. "This'll teach you ya' brat!" He yelled, Sasuke jumping over the kid's fallen form and crashing head-first into the man's somach, his forearms raised over his head. He bounced back violently, landing on the fallen kid with an oomph, feeling the other's warm body slack under Sasuke's own.

The man went tumbling back, landing flat on the concrete and dropping the board, an impact that could be felt in the ground itself. Sasuke hurredly scrambled up, reaching into his shorts pocket and yanking out the blunted kunai he had carried for no real reason, his breath coming rapidly and his eyes wide, shaking violently. _"Whoahwhoahwhoah why'd I do that!?Itachi-is-going-to-kill-me!" _He whimpered in his head, falling into a shaky, yet basic taijutsu stance. "B-b-back o-off!" He yelled frantically as the man got up.

The large burly fellow was built like a bear. He had a smooth, bald head and piggish brown eyes with a scar under his chin. His mouth was puckered with ugly and his arms were hairy and brutish, like a gorilla's.

The unidentified man opened his mouth to say something but his eyes snapped up to somewhere above Sasuke's head, his mouth closing instantly with his eyes wide as dinner-plates, turning on his massive heel and hurrying away. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief and suddenly stiffened as he felt a soft hand on his shoulder and a sweet voice saying: "Sasuke-kun.. Why did you do that?"

Sasuke's eyes were wide and his mouth was open comically, stuttering out a response. "I-I-Ieeeee I was trying to save him!" He stuttered out, wheeling around and pointing at the blonc kid who was pulling himself off of the ground with his gaze continuously at the ground. He had three strange whisker marks on each cheek and cerulian blue eyes with spiky blond hair. There was a cut on his right cheek and a bruise on his other cheek, his left arm cradled in it's right with various scratches running up and down said arm. His face seemed wet but he didn't make a sound, his lips pressed together in a tight line.

Sasuke halted in his speech with a sad look on his face, the kunai dropping from his hand in shock as he slowly sat down in front of the other kid. "H-hey.. My name is Uchiha Sasuke.." Sasuke said in a casual tone, albeit hesitant. Naruto glanced at him, muttering "Uzmunaki Narto"

(^ This is how he mutters it! It's not a spelling error!)

Sasuke sighed and looked up at Itachi pleadingly. Itachi looked back down at him and nodded towards Naruto, prompting him to go on. Sasuke sighed and continued. "Why was that man chasing you-" Naruto cut him of quickly. "I have no fucking clue!" He yelled, tears streaming freely down his cheeks then. "I was j-just try-ing to-ho by a s-set of kunai! A woman that w-was with him freaked out and scratched me!" He yelled, growing more distraught with every word, falling silent after his tirade, turning his face to the side in an attempt to hide it, sobs racking his body as he brought his hand up to wipe his eyes.

Itachi looked upon the boy with pity. He had watched the boy before in the ANBU, the day of the Kyuubi festival. He was irked at the fact that the child was targeted by drunken civilians. This child made him feel automatically protective. He felt the sudden urge to protect and teach him as he did Sasuke. Where it came from, who knows. Urges like this did not affect Itachi regularly, so why give up the chace to- logically- change this boy's life?

With a soft smile, Itachi knelt down to Naruto, wearing an orange tee-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts too big for him. "Naruto-san. Would you like to come have dinner with us?" Both Naruto and Sasuke looked up, startled at Itachi. Itachi just smiled, as if there was a funny secret they didn't know about.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ah, hello. I don't think it's normal for an author to post twice in a day-but who cares!  
Also, for any spelling errors I may have... I have to use "Rich text document" because I don't have the luxury of Microsoft Word. -_- So no spell check. And if the chapters are short, I'm sorry. A beta would be appreciated!

~~~~~~~~~~~~O_O~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto fidgeted unfomfortably in his chair. He felt like he really, really wasn't wanted here. Not by Sasuke and Itachi, of course, but the stern-faced old man and the woman. The amount of distaste coming from them was like a river threatening to take Naruto under and drown the crap out of him. He would be shaking if he didn't have practice not looking scared. Even though he had a morose atmosphere about him.

Itachi sighed and flipped another pork-bun into his mouth, munching on it slowly as he always did. Sasuke was eating voraciously, although glancing up at his parents occasionally, who were eating peacefully. Naruto picked up a pork bun and Itachi, only Itachi could've seen Mikoto's eyebrow twitch downwards ever-so-slightly. Naruto popped it in his mouth and chewed tentatively, his eyes flicking at the two adults at the table. Sasuke dropped his chopsticks on the plate and a smile flitted across his face. "I'm done!" He then composed himself, and with a dignified smile, he asked: "May I be excused?"

Fugaku let out a curt nod and a low "Hrn" without looking at Sasuke while Mikoto nodded, and prompted Sasuke to wash his hands. Naruto looked up at Sasuke timidly as he ran to the sink, dropping his plate off and rinsed his hands, running back to the table and grabbing Naruto by the wrist, yanking him out towards the back excitedly. "I'll be back later!" Naruto couldn't help but let out a yelp and follow him.

Itachi brought the small cup to his lips, slurping respectfully, as it is respectful in Japan. Although his eyes were seemingly closed, he kept his left eye open, Fugaku facing across from him, although just a crack as it followed the two's backs out the door. "Hm. How oppurtune. The yougest Uchiha.. And the last Namikaze." Of course, as an ANBU, Itachi had access to secrets like that. Itachi let his eyelid wander back down as the last of his tea was drained, setting his chopsticks down on his sort of clean plate. Clean aside from a little tidbits. He had never picked up the ability to eat every morsel on his tray, having rarely been sent on missions out of Konoha.

Fugaku cleared his throat in a dignified way, catching Itachi's attention. Fugaku, of course, was under the impression that Itachi didn't know a thing about the kid. Itachi tilted his head respectfully at him. "Yes, Oyajisama?" Fugaku grumbled lowly, wanting to be careful about how he started this conversation. "Where did you find the kid?" He asked with poorly-masked distaste towards Naruto himself. Itachi smiled. "There was a rather large man chasing him with a rather large board, and Sasuke-kun happened to save him. It was a very impressive display of taijutsu on Sasuke's part. The man was almost five time-" Fugaku grumbled lowly again. "Itachi!" Itachi maintained his smile, opening his eyes slightly. "Yes, Oyaji?" Fugaku sighed. "You know who that child is, don't you." Fugaku spit 'that' like it were a piece of stale bread. "Of course, Oyaji-sama." Itachi nodded, "He is Uzumaki, Naruto. He lives in a run-down apartment alone, because most of his orphanages tried to kill him in his sleep, or otherwise." Itachi had a frown on his face then, although apart from that, he showed no other sign of anger.

Fugaku nodded, sipping his own tea and setting it down, although the statement seemed to make him think a little. "Good. I want you to keep Sasuke and that child in touch." Fugaku said, Itachi replying with a respectful nod, one almost too automated to be genuine. Fugaku couldn't help but sternly smile. Mikoto, however, was not exactly happy. "Are you serious, Fugaku?!" She said frantically, trying to keep her voice low. "That _thing _killed most of konoha on that day!" Fugaku looked at Mikoto incredulously, his eyebrow raised in silent laughter. "Mikoto, dear.. You do know that he is merely the container, not the demon..." His tone darkened near the end. Mikoto bit her lip in response. She lost many, many good friends that day. It had been simply tramautic. As a former shinobi, she had friends names engraved on that terrible rock. That one where the silver-haired man liked to brood. But that day was just too many. Too fast.

Itachi got up, bowing and bringing his empty plates to the sink, something he didn't do often. Despite their wealth, Uchiha didn't hire servants to wait at their own meals. Itachi shook his head and sighed, stepping silently onto the back porch. "_What is that man up to now? _" He sighed in his head, seeing Naruto next to Sasuke, looking intently as Sasuke proceeded to throw kunai into the tree, his stance in slow motion. He turned to Naruto, saying something inaudible, but by the way he nodded and said "Yosh!", Naruto was probably asked to get up and do it himself.

Naruto held the kunai in his hand, following the motion the younger Uchiha set earlier in slow-motion, looking at Sasuke for conformation. When Sasuke nodded, Naruto attempted to throw the kunai, ending up with a loud splash shortly after. Sasuke let out a loud laugh as Naruto let out a loud groan. Itachi chuckled softly, keeping his presence hidden on the porch, in plain sight of course. On first glance, you wouldn't really see Itachi, which is something he learned to do by keeping his skin covered and sitting still. Naruto ran to the small pond behind the tree, peering down at it. "Aww man!" He said in the same tone, his voice distant to Itachi. The late afternoon was peaceful, crickets chirping and, aside from the rambunctious boys, it was still and quiet.

Sasuke's laughing died down as he paused for a moment, his hand on his chin. Naruto looked at him curiously for a moment, Sasuke suddenly hitting his palm with his fist. "Okay. Naruto, here." Sasuke handed Naruto another kunai and got behind him, grabbing both of his wrists. Itachi noted that he did the same thing, although with Itachi being larger than Sasuke, he was able to give him space. Whereas, Naruto would have... absolutely no space. Itachi resisted the urge to laugh as he noticed that Naruto stiffened slightly. In fact, he was turning a bit red. Itachi raised an eyebrow halfway up his head at this. "Hnn...? I have a feeling this is going to get interesting..."

Sasuke let him follow through the motions, his heart pumping quickly the entire time. He had never had someone so close to him, intentionally. Especially someone like... Him. He was getting the hang of the whole kunai thing. It was pretty easy, if someone teaches you. Of course, he never had anyone to teach him. But still. Sasuke Uchiha? Teaching him?_ "There's got to be something else.. He's too high-class to even look at me. He is an Uchiha, after all." _He thought sadly. Naruto looked relatively morose after that train of thought drew to a close.

~~~~~~~~O_O~~~~~~

A/N: So yeah. I'm being my own beta for once. This is a rewrite, and I did my best to make the characters more so. Some of this stuff was pretty uncharacteristic.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the favorites! I don't really think that I've had that many so quickly. ^^;; But yeah. I plan to have Itachi NOT massacre the Uchiha clan. However, I do have a MAJOR, MAJOR plot twist. REALLY MAJOR. Enjoy. Also, timeskip. Huge, huge timeskip. And flashbacks later. Probably.

~~~~~O_O~~~~~

Zabuza nodded his head tersely at the rather imposing old man in the chair before him. Maybe not to any normal passerby, or maybe an uneducated ninja, he would be such a little threat, you wouldn't consider him. However, Zabuza was definitely well-versed in shinobi lore, and this man before him was very, very intimidating. The "God of Shinobi" was not a title given lightly. The room was dark and stuffy with tension. Being hired for such a dirty job warranted as such. Hiring a former mist nin to carry out an ANBU's job was risky, borderline stupid, however, there were only a few people who could do the job, and they were all out on missions or too important to have them leave Konoha forever afterwards.

Sasuke and Naruto were chatting idly, smiles on both of their faces. Sasuke had grown reasonably quieter, and much closer to Naruto. If it was possible, Sasuke would've adopted Naruto as a brother. They did everything together these days. Although, there were things Sasuke had yet to figure out about Naruto. The looks the villagers gave him, and the occasional refusal of service boggled Sasuke. But he never pressed. They were incidents few and far between.

Sasuke's parents had grown considerably fonder to Naruto as well. Parents means Mikoto, of course. Fugaku had been a bit less cold. It was more of a: "There is less intimidation behind those dark windows people call eyes" less cold. His face and voice was still cold and dignified, however it didn't contain such an undertone of malice.

"But that Anko, she seems cool." Naruto said, both of them talking about the new Jounin. "Yeah but I heard from one of my cousins, who is on the interrogation squad that she's almost good at torture as Ibiki Morouno. That's scary." Sasuke shot back with a slight grimace on his face, his eyes impassive. Naruto shuddered and grimaced, scrunching up his nose. "Yeesh! How do you decide to go into that line of work anyways?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. "That's just freaky." Sasuke shrugged. "I agree." Sasuke paused for a moment, looking up. Naruto followed suit. "Eh? What is it?" Naruto asked, peering up to the sky. To their right was an old, run-down building. There were decrepit houses all around. Sasuke smiled slightly, just a slight twitch upwards at the corners of his mouth. Naruto was one of the few that could catch something like that. Sasuke crouched slightly and ran towards the old building, crouching for a second and leaping into the air, gripping onto an edge and hauling himself up to a dusty old symbol. Naruto followed suit, jumping up after him.

Both of their skills were quite similar. They both trained under Itachi for a while, and were far above their peers on chakra control and taijutsu. Sasuke had a couple fire jutsu he had learned. Fireball, and Giant Fireball. Of course, at such a young age that was prodigy material. Naruto's chakra control turned to be crap, from the ludicrous amount of chakra he had in the first place. Even the regular practice of the tree-climbing jutsu Itachi had them do didn't help this. He wanted to teach them water-walking, however increasing missions had him busy day and night. Even as young as they were, both Naruto and Sasuke could tell something was going on. So, Naruto stuck to taijutsu.

Sasuke reached up and wiped off the bulb-shaped icon to show a red semi-circle with a white semi-circle filling the rest of the space within. Naruto's lips stretched back into a wide smile. "Oh yeah!" He shouted, turning around and pointing to the next street over in a slight energetic crouch. "That's the place we first met.." He reminisced, a bit quieter. They both sat down on the overhang, looking over what little rooftop view the low position provided, both completely engrossed in thought. The sun was almost set by the time they snapped out of their trance, Naruto suddenly jumping up and yelling out a characteristic "Crap!" He reached down and grabbed the shoulder of Sasuke's shirt, pulling him up quickly. "C'mon we're really, really late! " Sasuke nodded tersely and they both concentrated chakra into their toes, sprining off of that building onto a nearby one, running up the side and jumping quickly from rooftop to rooftop. Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, raising his voice over the rushing of the air. "We can say we got caught up in shuriken practice!" Sasuke smirked. "Neither of us have shuriken, idiot!" He shot back, chuckling at Naruto. Naruto growled. "Then what are we going to do, bastard?" He yelled back. Sasuke just shrugged.

~~~~~~~~O_O~~~~~~~~

Sasuke and Naruto landed breathless at the entrance of the Uchiha compound, both looking around at the lack of people. As soon as they got there, they could tell something was wrong. There were no guards, which usually greeted Sasuke. No people milling about just within the compound. No lights in the winows. Everything was dead quiet. Sasuke and Naruto both stepped tentatively in. "Uncle-Aio!" Sasuke shouted. "Aio-sama?" Naruto muttered, walking to a small house near the entrance. Sasuke was about to walk in, but Naruto suddenly clamped a shaking hand, pointing at the blood pooling under the door, dripping onto the ground. Sasuke recoiled, horrified, while Naruto took shaky steps back. "Mikoto-Sama..." Naruto breahthed, Sasuke and him suddenly dashing at a high speed to the main house.

As they continued, both of them could barely ignore the blood running in the streets and the giant slash-marks and melting ice spikes dotting the grounds. They both dashed into the main compound. "Nii-san, Tou-san!" Sasuke bellowed in a cracked voice while Naruto could do naught but follow mutely. They both ran into the main room to see a rather tall man with off-black, spiky hair and a shorter kid next to him wearing a white mask, completely unmarked aside from eye-holes. Sasuke and Naruto stared in horror at the scene before them. Mikoto Uchiha laid still on the ground, a single senbon protruding from her neck. Fugaku Uchiha laid on his back, in a very undignified position in front of the tall man, looking down. An absolutely massive sword in his hand, buried in Fugaku's chest as blood and scorch-marks were seen everywhere. Sasuke stared in shock for a moment, suddenly sinking to his knees, his mouth opening as he let out a loud, hoarse, horrified scream.

~~~O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O~~~

A/N: So, yeah. I edited this one a bit. I didn't find that much wrong with it. But expect a LOT of editing on chapter four. Coming soon.


	4. THEE FOURTH CHAPTARRR :L

A/N: Another story up. The reviews seemed to slow down. Eh, I'll continue posting for the sake of anyone following. School really takes up a lot of time for me, between Band Monday, Thursday, and Friday, and projects every other week, it's ridiculous! But hey, it's my future. Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O_O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around this time, Sasuke would be eating with his family. Naruto may have been there. Sasuke didn't like it when Naruto was separated from him. He felt like he was alone when they were separated, and was sure that Naruto felt the same way. He couldn't think. Not of what just happened. Why he wasn't killed. Why he had to endure this life. At that moment, he had to come to terms with the sickening fact: Naruto is the only one left. He had never really known anybody aside from Naruto. It was just sickening.

Even as Haku sent a few senbon his way, he saw orange fill his vision. A metal clanging sound as Naruto fought for his life under a hail of senbon. The next moment, a flash of metal could be seen tearing around Naruto. A blue-clad foot knocked Sasuke's static form, the foot connected to a leg. The leg connected to orange. The leg suddenly jerked and froze in the air before falling limply on the ground, a mass of blond following it. Sasuke felt his stomach do a flip-flop. Twice.

Sasuke's afore-immobile form suddenly jerked towards Naruto, his eyes flashing everywhere as the numbing effect of the sense of loss faded slightly, replaced by a much more powerful, yet painfully brief emotion. Anger. Sasuke jumped over to Naruto on the ground. The boy was unmoving, a large and mortal gash on his side, his jumpsuit torn in many places from the senbon. Sasuke put his head down for a moment, shivers overtaking him. His lip twisted upwards into a strained grimace, tears suddenly flowing from his eyes silently. He closed his eyes once, a sudden rush of unquenchable anger, a thirst for blood seen in the most insane shinobi in history rushing out of him in a steady wave. Both Zabuza and Haku seemed extremely interested. Sasuke turned around, his teeth pulled back into a soundless snarl.

Sasuke turned around to face them, his lips pulled back into a feral grin. He faltered for a moment, blinking. Everything before him was in amazing quality. He'd never seen this before. This was completely new. He halted his thoughts within that fraction of a second he had even drifted from their deaths. How could he think of anything else besides Naruto's bloody form? He suddenly froze, his anger snapping like a twig. Why try to take vengance and die himself? No. That was stupid. Naruto was still alive, barely. He would have to protect what he had left.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, his rushing anger subsided somewhat into a cold simmer. Every ounce of it directed at those damn ninja across from him. The entire time they waited paitiently. Why? "Haven't the ANBU noticed?" Sasuke thought with a start. "Why does Itachi have to be on a mission now?!" Sasuke screamed in his head, suddenly burning with anger again. Heedless to his earlier revalation, he dashed towards the man and the boy with speed yet achieved by Sasuke's training. The tall man barely had time to swing his sword up as Sasuke jumped and slammed both of his feet into the man's chest. The momentum threw Sasuke backwards with a few shallow cuts to the bottom of his shins. Sasuke went flying back, landing in the folds of somoene's clothes. He looked up to find the kid with the mask and froze in fear, struggling in the kid's death-grip. The masked one had an arm aronud Sasuke's stomach and an arm around his neck. He wasn't choking him, but Sasuke couldn't move, and that itself was cause for frantic struggling. Sasuke growled and wormed his chin under the kid's forearm, delivering a savage bite. The masked one let out a boyish yelp and stumbled back, getting a kick to the solarplexus by Sasuke. The boy let out a short cough and fell back.

Sasuke froze with surprise. He had just incapacitated someone. He, Sasuke, starting genin, had capacitated an enemy. He heard a groan come from his right. Spinning on his heel, he turned to face a Naruto stirring on the ground. The blood was no longer flooding the ground, and his breathing was even as he pushed himself up, holding his side and coughing. Sasuke forgot the Nin in the room and ran to Naruto, his face frantic. Naruto looked up weakly as Sasuke threw his arms around Naruto and helped pull him up. Naruto's face was pale and he had large bags under his eyes. "S-sasuke..." he said in a weak tone, his breath becoming ragged as if talking were a chore. "Your eyes.." He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. Sasuke felt Naruto crumple onto him, said objects of human anatomy widening as he processed the words. He was in a flurry of emotions, one not seen since Jiraiya last drank with Tsunade. Sasuke suddenly jumped up as he felt cold laughter fill the air, along with a sudden sheet of white. "W-what's happening to my vision?!" Sasuke thought frantically. His breathing picked up with fright. "N-no.. I'm not going blind... This is..." Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. He had heard stories of mist ninja actually using mist to kill their enemies. Sasuke was suddenly extrememly, extremely terrified.

"Out of all the shinobi in the Uchiha clan." Zabuza said scornfully. "A child gave me enough trouble to use my mist jutsu. Sad excuse for a clan!" Zabuza spat scornfully. Sasuke seemed to jerk from this. He felt as though someone just smacked him in the face. "S-shut up!" He screamed, slamming the ground next to the sleeping Naruto with his fist. "You have no right to talk about them that way! You killed my family!" He screamed shrilly, jumping up in a fighting stance. "Show yourself so I can gut your sorry ass like a pig!" He growled, his anger filling the air like KI. With a swift motion, he swept around the room with a cold glare. It was small, but Zabuza could be seen nowhere. A low chuckle sounded next to his cheek, a sudden cold pain filling his side. He winced and yelped, clutching his side as blood seeped through his fingers. He yelped again as the same pain exploded across his shoulder blades. Then both of his shoulders. His chest, legs, chest again, just below his neck, and sides again. By the time Zabuza was done, Sasuke was panting, his eyes almost closed, his body hunched from exhaustion as blood poured from every open wound, flowing down his body. The mist cleared and Zabuza's form appeared in front of him, swinging his hand down and grabbing Sasuke by the front of his shirt. Even now, he could pick out in fine detail what was on Zabuza's face. But he couldn't be bothered with that now. He was about to die.

Zabuza felt a smile come under his mask. Somehow, holding the last of the Uchiha clan in his hand, blood dripping down his face from a cut on his cheek was very... satisfying. He let the smile widen and brought the sword up, holding it against the front of the kid's chest. The kid's eyes widened with fear, then steeled with courage. Zabuza smirked as that courage wasn't going to last long. He slowly drew the sword across the boy's chest, cutting through the last of the fabric holding most of his shirt on, and cutting a deep gash, from which blood cascaded down his chest. Sasuke squirmed in his grip, yelping as tears started to flow from his eyes. Zabuza laughed coldly and threw the kid onto the ground, none too softly. The kid was too weak to move, yet still alive somehow. Zabuza raized the sword above his head, a rush of excitement as fear flooded the boy's eyes as he feebly tried to crawl away. Suddenly, a pain exploded through the back of his left leg, catching him off-guard and causing him to fall to one knee and drop his blade. Naruto dashed out from behind Zabuza, grabbing the blade and weakly dragging it as he frantically picked Sasuke off of the ground, gasping for air as they tripped down the stairs and stumbled out to the main way, Naruto supporting the butchered Sasuke. Naruto gasped as they stopped, continuing to hold Sasuke up. He dropped the sword and glanced behind him, letting out a bit of breath to find the man wasn't following them. "S-sasuke.." Naruto gasped out, letting Sasuke continue to lean on him.

Naruto put his hand up to the side that was slashed open. A scab was dried against the orange of Naruto's jumpsuit, wincing as he accidently caused it to open once more, warm flowing down his side. Letting out a raspy breath, Naruto concentrated on the matter at hand. He was up to his shoulders in 'probably going to die'. Sasuke would be no help, so he did the only thing he thought to do. Run.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O_O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

A/N: So yeah. That was the longest chapter so far. Sorry it sucked. I also didn't pull a cliffy on accident. I just don't know what else to write. Seriously, I need ideas. Don't be scared. Don't comment your ideas either. PM them. Seriously. I am officially calling writer's block. Just, just do it. Even if you think it's stupid, I'm not going to judge you... Seriously...

Review, find me a beta, and thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Sasuke's hands came to his head as a pulsing feeling came to him through the haze that lingered in his mind, like a morning's thick mist. "_Mist_. . ." he thought to himself, the word ringing in his mind as if it meant something. "Mist. . ." he croaked out loud, feeling someone shake him.

"Sasuke!" he heard in a muffled tone, as if someone were speaking through water. Slowly, the sounds around him clarified, his name sharpening and becoming suddenly ludicrously loud. Whoever called it sure knew how to yell.

Sasuke!" he heard a frantic and vaguely familiar voice shout behind him, a hand bumping his back as he turned around with bleary eyes and mumbled "Shut up.." quietly before struggling upwards. He winced as a myriad of sharp, ripping sensations suddenly pervaded his senses, permeating his judgement as he suddenly jumped up, the events of the night washing over him like a mud-slide, threatening to pull him down into heavy despair. He wheeled around in his spot, a sharp glare shot at the blond on the ground, looking just as beat up as he felt.

"Naruto, where are we!" he demanded, sinking into a shaky defensive stance as his calves and thighs burned and screamed in protest. He suddenly sucked in a breath as his legs gave out on him, falling on his rear with a dull thump.

Naruto reluctantly looked at Sasuke, a long but shallow-looking cut running from the back of his side to the inside edge of his ribs, slowly seeping blood. Sasuke looked around again, his hand groping for a weapon subconsciously. "W-where are we?!" he asked frantically, his heart leaping around in his chest and knocking against the inside of his ribcage, as if it were trying to escape the horrors that were to come.

"In the main.. area... houses... road thing..." he mumbled, his eyes slowly closing as his ragged face scrunced up in a last-ditch, yet futile effort to stay awake and keep from fainting. Of course, it didn't work. Naruto's body slumped back as Sasuke's breath started coming faster, his eyes widening.

"_I have to do something..._" He thought frantically, feeling within himself for his chakra reserves. They were almost half full. Or in this case, half empty. He growled in disdain. How it escaped his mind that he had half his chakra left was beyond him.

"_Oh yeah_." he thought bitterly; "_It wouldn't have helped_." It was true, indeed. He was no match for a missing nin, even an academy student could figure that out. He searched his mind for answers, his hands shaking as he twisted his black shirt in his hands, trying to calm his and their shaking.

His pacing stopped as an idea, a magnificent, amazing, possibly terrible idea broke through his mind like a dolphin leaping from the waves. "Katon: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled as he turned to the sky, taking a deep breath and molding most of the chakra left within himself. A massive fire ball rose into the air above him, coalescing and swirling in a violent torrent of heat that lit the entire village up, casusing shadows that weren't there to form, and shadows that were to deepen, creating a mesmerizing mirage of flashing light that was impossible to predict, and could prove a superb ambush time.

The fireball hung in the air for a moment after he ran out of breath and chakra, hunching over in his spot as he could no longer move. His muscles felt like solid lead had been poured into them, his chest heavy and his lungs burning, his lips stinging slightly from the fire he pulled off minutes before. His vision was dimming, although there were no enemies to be found. He felt a hand come to his forehead and felt a cool sensation flood through him, his eyes closing as he fell asleep promptly.

Sorry I didn't do A/N at the beginning, but I started typing, and this version of wordpad eats the letters in front of it when I try to insert. =o=;;

Alright, so how'd you like it? I bet you just answered me in your head. Well guess what, the review buttons is somwhere down there. (V) So just... click it and write.. I like reviews. It makes me happy. And motivates me to update more despite ridiculous projects and tyrannic World History teachers.


	6. The Aftereffects

A white light pervaded the depths of the deep darkness that encompassed Sasuke's senses, colors and noises barely distinguishable beyond the deep haze that was an exhausted sleep. One which overtook him shortly after. . .

"Guah!" Sasuke yelled as he bolted upright in bed, his hands running over his body repeatedly to assure himself that he was alive, as if the frozen nurse next to his bed and the stale colors that made up the simple hospital room weren't enough conformation. Once affirmed that he was very much alive, he exhaled for a rather stretched period of time as he sank back into the somewhat comfortable bed staving off the effects of gravity.

Sasuke felt a sudden pain in his chest, wondering why as the memories from last nigh revisited him. The dark laughter, the stinging sword, the blood on the ground. "_So much blood . . ._" He thought as dark thoughts permeated his mind, his body feeling numb as he stared at the ceiling, wide-eyed, unable to think, unable to move. More strangely, unable to cry. Who was left? Was there anyone?

"Mister Uchiha . . ." The nurse asked politely, as if she was some therapist. Using that neutral tone. That disgustingly neutral, polite, cold. . . uncaring. She didn't share his pain, she didn't understand She didn't! Maniacal thoughts drifted through his head as he suddenly growled, shooting the innocent woman a deadly look, screaming at the top of his lungs as the emotions trapped under his usually calm disposition broke through and rushed out "Get out! Get out now! You don't understand! I hate you! I hate all of you!"

The poor woman yelped softly and let out a hasty "O-oh my!" Before running out to find a shrink. Luckily, she didn't get the chance. If a shrink had been called, he or she would have definitely been hit a few times.

A short nurse bumped into an imposing figure in white robes, an empty pipe stuck between his lips as he was not allowed to smoke in a hospital. The Hokage doing such a despicable thing would not be very popular with the people. The nurse paused for a moment, looking up at the warm-faced old man before talking, her finger coming up to point at the pipe. Before the woman had the chance to inform him that he had a pipe in his mouth, Sarutobi spoke, "It's not lit, miss, do not worry."

His face took on a slightly less jovial look as he continued, "The Young Uchiha will not be needing a Therapist." the Hokage said in a gruff tone. "He has friends that will help mend him in time." His tone was extremely wise, in an old man sort of way, as if every word he spoke had some esoteric pretense that, if followed through, could reveal the secrets of the Universe. Of course, it was just a trick of speech. But she didn't know that.

Nodding her head, she bowed and continued on, the medical charts that were once clutched in her hand held in front of the Hokage's face as he studied them, finding the results rather pleasing. The Uchiha was stable. Physically, anyhow. He was rested appropriately and the sleeping-seal placed on him was lifted, allowing him to wake completely with his body well-rested. Now all he had to do was get Naruto to see him- Just as Sarutobi thought this, the crying that garbled through the door to Sasuke's room died down, which caused a smirk to spread across the Old Man's face. "_Check._"

Naruto stopped pacing as he heard a familiar voice screaming from a floor below him. He was mulling over what happened almost two days ago, which is something he didn't do. Ever. Mulling, that is. Although the rare brainstorm had to be cut short, as his friends took priority over almost everything else. Even ramen. Especially Sasuke.

Sasuke and he had been as close as friends could get since forever. Who knows why? Sasuke saved him from a rather painful beating. Which was, the Hokage guessed, due to the inoppurtune shifting of ANBU watching over him that happened to take place at that time. However, there was hint of other forces in the background moving against the Kitsune. That aside, they were close. Closer than most. Which is why passing people on the street would happen to see a blond kid in a tightly-knotted hospital gown swing out of his window ledge and climb onto the one under him, opening said window and climbing into the room.

Sasuke drove the heels of his palms into his eyes as the tears came uncontrollably, dripping onto the rather thin hospital gown that adorned him. He was wearing a clean pair of shorts under that, which he didn't exactly know how they got on him. Regardless, he was crying. Crying and Sasuke didn't mix. It was pitiful, and disgusting. From his point of view, at least. He obviously wasn't very practiced at it, as the strange choking and groaning sounds he made were rather unseemly. However, crying was crying, and it was done for a reason.

Sasuke was in emotional turmoil. His thoughts were blank. Or, at least, muddled. They were blank like a painting, blank in a _different_ way. A huge mural of death and blood and despair, one which you could not focus on one thing without looking at another. One with so much anguish you could not possibly focus on one point. Some kind of gruesome painting which you could not penetrate with thought. You couldn't focus on an element and extrapolate it until it made sense. It was demonic, it was strange, it was . . . it was grief. And grief had to be broken by someone else. Someone who wasn't him. But who was there? He had no uncle. "_Naruto. . ." _ He had no aunts. No brothers left. "_Naruto . . ._" No loving mother to confide in when times were tough. "_Naruto. . ."_ No stoic fathers, solid walls of almost ludicrious wisdom. "_Naruto. . ._" But who was there?

The answer was evident. Sasuke let out an anguished cry as someone wrapped their arms around him, warmth penetrating the curtain of cold. It gave him something he could focus on. Something he could keep his grip on sanity with. He felt drawn to it. Like a drug. Anything would be better than this . . . emotional hell.

Sasuke's arms came up around this source of warmth, burying his face in a crook in it's shoulder, shaking uncontrollably as his emotions leaked out of his eyes. His family was gone. The basis of his life was gone. He had nobody else but . . .

"Naruto. . ." He choked, tears running in thin streams down his face as the warmth tightened it's grip around him. "I-I'm right here." A dry voice replied, a chin coming up and resting on his head as he heard a deep breath released, tickling the top of his head.

* * *

•••••

A/N: So what did you think? I'm pretty sure that at the moment I'm not going to make it a Yaoi fic. More like a bromance. (Yes, there is a difference.) Sorry if you're dissapointed that I can't entertain your debaucherizing, but I don't think that secks would fit well on a fiction like this. =w= (Personal opinion plus it's my story.)

Also, I don't have a set amount of reviews until I review or anything. I don't wait for my readers to make a move if that's what you're thinking. I write whenever I can, and whenever I have inspiration. =w=;; Honestly, inspiration has been hard to come by these days.

Inspiration Appreciated~ Pandora's Pet


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